Policeman who shot boss says he was tortured

A policeman who killed his boss at Makueni Police Station on Friday accused his colleagues of assaulting him in the police cells.

Constable Friday Barasa was arrested on Thursday while on the run after he shot dead Inspector Dennis Wanjala and injured two colleagues – Senior Sergeant Elias Mwisaka any Corporal William Kiptuno.

He opened fire on his colleagues at around 8.45pm on Wednesday after he had reportedly threatened to kill someone that day.

GUN

When he was arraigned at Makueni Law Courts yesterday during the hearing of an application by the prosecution to have him detained for longer before being charged, Barasa complained that his colleagues and the OCPD, Bosita Omukolongolo, had tortured him.

“Officers beat me up and crushed my testicles,” he told the court, adding: “The OCPD hit me on the head using the butt of a gun.”

A handcuffed Constable Barasa told the jammed court that he had also lost money at the hands of his colleagues.

At the dock, he wore a white vest and  jungle green pants, the same clothes he wore when police nabbed him in the bushes at Kwa Kavisi near Wote town.

He pleaded with the court to instruct police to take him for treatment.

PROTECT

In a shaky voice, the police officer who worked at the records office pleaded with the magistrate’s court to protect him from the police.

Senior resident magistrate at Makueni Law Courts Joan Otieno ordered that Barasa be detained at the police station for 14 days pending the completion of investigations.

She also sought to protect Barasa against aggression by his colleagues.

She said: “The court directs the police officers to treat respondent as humanly as possible because any accused person has a right to be deemed innocent until contrary is proven.”

“In addition to the foregoing, the respondent should be taken, and if need be, be treated at Makueni Referral Hospital and the doctor in charge should file a report to be placed before this court,” she added.

Trial will resume on January 11.